‘This one, she’s something else’
Kobe Bryant had a special relationship with daughter Gianna. She was his shadow at the end of his career and in retirement. She routinely traveled to work with him and he loved coaching her and her basketball teammates at the Mamba Sports Academy, a training center he opened in Thousand Oaks.
“It’s a trip to see her move and some of the expressions she makes,” Bryant said. “It’s a trip how genetics work.”
When I saw Bryant and Gianna at the Sparks’ season opener in Las Vegas in May, he said he thought it was funny when fans asked him when he would have a son to carry on the basketball legacy. He said the family name was already in good hands.
“This one,” Bryant said, pointing to Gianna. “She’s something else.”
It wasn't a surprise that Bryant was flying to a game with Gianna on Jan. 26. They were inseparable. He loved taking her to basketball games and talking about different plays, tendencies and adjustments.
“What I love about Gigi is her curiosity about the game,” Bryant said. “Even in a heated situation in a game ... she can detach herself and come to me and ask a very specific question, which is not common.
She’ll come over and say, ‘OK, on this particular trap when I’m trying to close the gap but she’s getting on the outside, do I need to change my angle?’ ”
Bryant said Gianna was “hell-bent” on going to Connecticut to play for coach Geno Auriemma. He took her to some games where she met the Huskies and Auriemma. In retirement, Bryant’s focus when it came to basketball was on Gianna. He didn’t worry how he would be remembered. He just wanted to be there for his daughter and watch her play the game they loved.